Hello we live on Crn Northcote and Broomwood Rd - does anyone know what pre-schools we are welcome to? Also what age do we register? Thanking you in advance>

Unfortunately it's not that rare. I know of people who have fiddled it for primary school and it's even got a name for those who do it to get into Graveney - the Graveney shuffle! Some people seem to think it's an acceptable thing to do - i.e. you'd do anything to get your child into a school and it isn't actually illegal. But morally....

Thank you all for your posts (and sorry to the original poster for hijacking their thread).

We have wanted to live in the Northcote Road area for nearly three years – long before our son came into the picture. We're renting and we moved without actually thinking about the schools (school is still a long way off for our son). It was only after moving here and doing a little research that I realised the two closest state schools have a very good reputation. I agree that renting temporarily simply to gain a place in a preferred school and then moving back to a normal residence is grossly unfair – surely this is reasonably rare, however?

My comment is not about people who live locally but about those who are choosing to live in one place or another because of some idea about the primary schools, rather than living where they want to live.

What also worries me is the people who will rent flats in an area to gain admission to a school and then either move or move back to their normal residence. This deprives local people of their choice. The rental agencies just love it.

I also don't see anything wrong with wanting to get your child into your local community school. If you live off Northcote Road it seems only natural that you would want to send them to one of the 2 schools which are just off Northcote Road (i.e. your closest schools). Why would you think about sending them to a school which is quite a walk and not that easy to get to?

"However, the biggest factor in your child's success at school is the home support and interest in education - not the school itself."

In my own experience, that wasn't the case at all. Both my parents encouraged me, and I was, by all accounts, a bit of a swot. Despite that, my school let me down.

I agree that many people misunderstand school performance but I don't think it helps to quote stats that are convenient to you just to make a point either.

It is a bit misleading to simply quote value added score performance especially as you haven't said that is the criteria you are looking at. The implication that Honeywell is the 46th worst performing school in the borough is certainly misleading.

Your point, I think, is that people only look at part of a picture when looking at school performance and then you have done the same. There is much more to a school than only value added scores. The reason schools' reputations may not be fair is because parents don't always understand the stats.

For anyone who doesn't know, value added scores (the ranking that janee quoted) is the improvement in pupils' achievement from where they start in reception. Falconbrook achieves fantastic results for its pupils based on this. However, a school whose pupils start in reception with high levels of achievement already cannot achieve much more than average value added and therefore are low in the rankings.

But this is only one part of the picture. If you look at literacy, numeracy and science results the rankings look completely different with Honeywell for example very high up the list. Falconbrook also has great results, I'm not saying that its not a good school. I just don't think its helpful to be selective with the stats and not say so.

This posting is incredibly depressing. I can understand, perhaps, why parents want to get their children into a school which is perceived to be "good". However, the biggest factor in your child's success at school is the home support and interest in education - not the school itself.

It is also so sad that the reputation of schools seems to have absolutely nothing to do with their actual performance. In order of performance: Falconbrook was the best performing primary school in the whole borough. Belleville comes in at 19th, High View at 29th, Honeywell at 46th and Wix at 53. Honeywell only returned national average results for progress made by its students, whereas Falconbrook performed well above.

This misunderstanding of school performance is incredibly damaging, as is the hidden agenda about why Honeywell is the school of choice for the parents in the Northcote area.

no you won't lose a place - you can accept a place at one school and stay on the waiting list for others - more than one I think. The important thing is to apply for a school which will be acceptable to you if you don't get one of your preferences as otherwise you might be sent to a school you don't want and at the other end of the borough. You can also ring the council admissions team to get exact distances from houses you're interested in and your preferred schools then compare these to the longest distances from previous years.

Sorry to exhume an old thread but I was wondering if anybody could give me any advice.

We live on Northcote Road between Mallinson and Shelgate Road. From what I can see, a place at Honeywell looks pretty much impossible but Belleville is looking more positive.

Here's where I reveal my ignorance of the whole school application process. My son is only 1 year old, so I've got a fair while to wait before applying. However, I'm curious about the talk of waiting lists. Could somebody explain to me how this works? From what I can see, there are several rounds of admissions(?), so those who live in a 'touch and go' area may have to wait until September to find out if their child's been offered a place. If you wait too long in the hope of getting a place at one (preferred) school, do you potentially miss out on a place already offered at the other?

Apologies for my naïvety, but the whole school admissions process is pretty alien to me at the moment - barring the fact I know it can be incredibly stressful - so I'd like to know what we're in for!

Thank you!

Also a friend of mine that lives on Ramsden Road whose child was no 86 on the waiting list at Belville got offered a place last week! There is hope for those of us that are prepared to let your child maybe start at a school and then transfer them to your preferred choice

thank you for sharing such precise information, its really great to hear whether specific roads qualify/don't qualify...

A

Just to share my past experience with you. We are past thurleigh road, one road after and this year my son was 40 on the honeywell waiting list and 60 at belleville, we got at belleville 4 days before the opening so be patient it might pay!! He was down to 6 at honeywell in september!!
Good luck I know how stressfull this could be but once it is done it is over

Having done a bit of research on this myself earlier in the year, I just wanted to add that Belleville's catchment area had gone as far as 700m in April after second round offers when they added the extra class which made a huge difference. At first round offers I understand it was only about 250m. Honeywell's catchment area was much smaller than Belleville's at second round offer stage - around 450m I believe and I understand it only increased by about 20m between first and second round offers! However, it had still extended practically as far as Thurleigh Road just before term started in September.

Thats great news, I'm really pleased for them. Thank you for the update the more specific information that we all have the better!

Annabel